Clarence C. Gravlee

Noelle Sullivan selected a compelling recent article for our discussion in journal club this week:

Kalofonos, I. A. (2010). “All I Eat Is ARVs”: The Paradox of AIDS Treatment Interventions in Central Mozambique. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 24(3), 363-380.

This paper was awarded the Hughes Paper Prize in 2008. The Hughes prize is awarded annually by the Society for Medical Anthropology for the best paper written by a graduate student.

Come join the discussion on Friday at 10:40 in the Med Anthro Lab.

After a long hiatus, I have just published a new episode in my video tutorial series on working with MAXQDA software to manage and analyze qualitative data. This episode introduces the basic tools for coding text in MAXQDA. It reviews how to create codes, apply codes to text, and work with the coding stripe in the Document Browser.

This video is the first I’ve produced using MAXQDA 10; the earlier videos were done with the previous version, MAXQDA 2007. I plan to update those early tutorial eventually, but for now my priority is on producing more tutorials with MAXQDA 10 on more advanced topics. Up next will be a tutorial on managing and organizing the Code System and working with codebooks in MAXQDA.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions about the new tutorial.

I am reminded again about one reason I love medical anthropology: its breadth. Last week in journal club we read about symbolic capital and body politics among the Tuareg; this week we turn to the analysis of cortisol in hair to assess exposure to chronic stressors. Where else can you cover that kind of scope?

Come join us on Friday, 10:40 – 11:30 a.m. in the Med Anthro Lab (TUR B103) to discuss the following paper, selected and presented by Alan Schultz:

Dettenborn, L., Tietze, A., Bruckner, F., & Kirschbaum, C. (2010). Higher cortisol content in hair among long-term unemployed individuals compared to controls. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 1-6.

Even if you aren’t interested in the topic, how often do you get to read a paper from a journal whose title is only one word but 10 syllables long?

We had an unfortunate, last-minute scheduling change this week, which gave me an opportunity to step in with a pair of articles I’ve been eager to discuss. Wait, did I say a pair of articles? Don’t fret: they’re both short. And they were made for each other.

Both papers are by Chandra Ford and colleagues. The first reviews critical race theory and discusses its applications in public health. The second presents an empirical application of the theory. If you only have time to read one, read the 2010 commentary. But it will enrich our discussion if you can read both:

Ford, C. L., & Airhihenbuwa, C. O. (2010). Critical race theory, race equity, and public health: Toward antiracism praxis. Am J Public Health, 100(S1), S30-S35.

Ford, C. L., Daniel, M., Earp, J. A. L., Kaufman, J. S., Golin, C. E., & Miller, W. L. (2009). Perceived everyday racism, residential segregation, and HIV testing among patients at a sexually transmitted disease clinic. Am J Public Health, 99(S1), S137-S143.

And if that’s not enough, Ford and Airhihenbuwa have another, longer paper about critical race theory in press at Social Science & Medicine.

See you Friday at 10:40 a.m. in The Lab (TUR B103).

The Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT) holds its next regular meeting tonight, October 19, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., at the Greater Frenchtown Revitalization Council (421 W Georgia St., Tallahassee). We have set two goals for the meeting.

First, after the summer break, we want to focus on what HEAT has accomplished so far and where we need to go next. In particular, we’d like to take stock of our work on Unnatural Causes and two HEAT spinoffs—the Food Policy Council and HEAT Heart Health—that are moving ahead with success. How can HEAT best support and integrate these projects? What are the priorities for future work? How can we ensure the sustainability of our efforts? What benchmarks should we use to gauge our success in promoting health equity?

Second, we would like to propose that HEAT organize a community workshop on Undoing Racism through the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Other researchers have integrated the Undoing Racism workshop with CBPR to address health equity. We see this opportunity as an extension of the Unnatural Causes events we organized earlier this year. At tonight’s meeting we will discuss this possibility and begin to develop a plan for bringing this program to Tallahassee.

For more information or to get involved, check out the HEAT website or join us on Facebook.

For journal club this week, José Antonio Tovar has selected the following article to discuss:

Ayala, G. X., Vaz, L., Earp, J. A., Elder, J. P., & Cherrington, A. (2010). Outcome effectiveness of the lay health advisor model among Latinos in the United States: an examination by role. Health Education Research, 25(5), 815-840.

Please join us at 10:40 a.m. on Friday in the Med Anthro Lab (TUR B103) for the discussion.

This week, National Public Radio’s Tell Me More with Michel Martin aired an interview with me about race, racism, and health. The interview touched on my work with collaborators in Puerto Rico and in Tallahassee, FL.

You can listen to the interview or read the transcript at NPR’s website. Many thanks to Michel Martin and her colleagues for their interest in the topic.

This week’s journal club moderator is June Carrington, who selected the following article for us to discuss:

Smart Richman, L., Pek, J., Pascoe, E., & Bauer, D. J. (2010). The effects of perceived discrimination on ambulatory blood pressure and affective responses to interpersonal stress modeled over 24 hours. Health Psychology, 29(4), 403.

Join us in The Lab (TUR B103) at 10:40 a.m. for the discussion.

Today I’m happy to announce an opening for a postdoctoral position in medical anthropology at the University of Florida. The full text of the ad is below; you can also download the official version as a PDF. Please share this announcement widely and let me know if you have any questions about the position.

The University of Florida Department of Anthropology invites applications for a Postdoctoral Associate in Medical Anthropology. The Postdoctoral Associate will be mentored by Dr. Clarence (Lance) Gravlee. The starting date of the position is negotiable but could begin immediately. Ph.D. is required at the time of appointment. Priority will be given to candidates with the PhD in anthropology, but candidates with training in allied disciplines (e.g., social epidemiology, public health, sociology) are eligible to apply.

The successful candidate will contribute to ongoing, interdisciplinary research on social inequalities in health and have opportunities to develop skills in project management, publication, and grant-writing. The Associate will work with Dr. Gravlee and colleagues on one of two projects affiliated with the Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee (HEAT). These projects focus on racial inequalities in cardiovascular disease, the food environment, and childhood obesity. Preferred interests include biocultural approaches to health and human development; community-based participatory research; race and racism; multilevel and spatial analysis; cultural dimensions of stress; and anthropology of food and nutrition. Skills in qualitative and quantitative research methods are a must.

The Associate will also have the opportunity to interact with colleagues and students in medical anthropology at the University of Florida. The medical anthropology community at UF is vibrant and growing, with many opportunities to support the continued professional development of the Postdoctoral Associate.

The position is expected to be one to two years. Salary is commensurate with experience. Please send an application letter, CV, and contact information for three references to Dr. Gravlee at cgravlee@ufl.edu. If necessary, paper applications should be sent to Dr. Clarence C. Gravlee, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida, PO Box 117305, Gainesville, FL 32611-7305. Application materials will be reviewed immediately and continue until the position is filled. The University of Florida is an equal opportunity institution dedicated to building a broadly diverse and inclusive faculty and staff. Minorities, women and those from other underserved groups are encouraged to apply.

Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education‘s weekly magazine, Chronicle Review, featured an article about research by my collaborators and me on racial inequalities in health, with a focus on hypertension in the African Diaspora. I’m grateful to the author, Josh Fischman, for his thoughtful portrait of the work — and especially for incorporating the voices of some key community partners in my current projects in Tallahassee.

The article is available on the Chronicle’s website. Questions or comments? Leave them at the Chronicle or post them here.